Couple take a stand to help restaurant dining with baby

A Timaru couple trying to deal with the often challenging matter of dining out with a baby have come up with a nifty invention.

Nevin and Angie Foster have designed an infant capsule stand, allowing parents to put their babies at table height while eating in a restaurant.

The Fosters have a patent pending on the product and have already sold two stands to Timaru restaurant Monteith’s.

Angie said the pair came up with the idea for the stand after being frustrated while taking their now 7-month-old Charlotte with them when meeting friends from out of town at a restaurant.

‘‘We were trying to eat out and the only place to put the capsule was under the table, near our feet.

‘‘We got sick of having nowhere to put her [Charlotte] and at six months and under babies can’t go in highchairs.’’

After looking online and not finding a baby product that could help the situation, Angie, a nurse, and Nevin, a builder, put their heads together and designed and constructed a capsule stand.

‘‘With four children of our own it was easy to see that there was a need for dining facilities in New Zealand to cater better for families with new babies,’’ the pair said.

‘‘We wanted to design a product to help make it easier for new mums and dads to dine out with a new baby in comfort.’’

Angie said it could often be daunting as a new parent to take your baby out in public.

‘‘Aside from worrying if your baby will be fussy or cry during your visit, a challenge while dining is where to put your baby while in the capsule.’’

She said the only option, at the moment, was for parents to put their capsule on the table, the floor or balance it on a chair.

The options were neither safe, nor sanitary, and could take up a lot of space, Nevin said.

The pair said they wanted to share their product with other parents, to help make their dining experience, as a family, more enjoyable.

‘‘It’s nice being able to have the baby up where you can see them and we want to share this with everyone,’’ Angie said.

The stand is made of solid pine and fits ‘‘neatly’’ under the dining table.

The Fosters said Monteith’s had agreed to purchase two of the stands, after the family had dined there using a prototype.

They are setting up a website, and could be contacted at niftybydesign@gmail.com for more information.

Monteiths owner Min Holding said the Foster’s product had appealed as it kept babies off the ground.

‘‘We think it’s a great idea.’’